If you die without leaving a valid will it s the law that decides how your estate is divided. The intestacy rules will be used and it may not be what you d have expected or wished.
If you are legally married or have a civil partner but no children and your estate is worth certain figure or less then your spouse/civil partner would get the whole of the estate. If the estate is valued above this amount and you have surviving relatives, your partner would still get this amount, plus half of the remainder. There is an order in which relatives would inherit, with surviving parents being at the top of the list, followed by siblings and going down through the ranks.
If you have a lawful partner (spouse or civil partner) and children then your partner would receive the first set amount as above and half of the remainder. The children would inherit half of the sum over the set amount immediately and the other half on the death of your partner.
If you have children but no legal partner, then your children would share the estate. This may not be at all what you d have expected. You could have a partner who relies on you and who you would have wished to inherit at least part of your estate, who would get absolutely nothing.
To avoid all possible doubt about your estate, however simple it may seem, clearly you should write a will. There are various options on this. You could write it yourself or use a professional will writer or a solicitor.
Many people write their own will, mostly using a form which you can buy from stationers. Take care if you go down this route it s very easy to make a mistake and you could even find it invalid. The cost of having a will written, particularly a relatively simple one, is no prohibitive and you can be confident that your wishes will be carried out.
A professional will writer or a solicitor will be used to dealing with all types of queries and will be able to answer all your questions. There could be queries regarding setting up trusts and maybe inheritance tax.
Having made your will, it s a good idea to review it from time to time, as circumstances change. If you decide to change it, then it s probably better to revoke your earlier one and have it re written. If the changes are minimal, it may be easier to make a codicil to form a part of the will and to be read in conjunction with it. Any codicil will have to be made in the same way as a will as far as signatures and witnesses are concerned.
You should store your will carefully; it s an important legal document. It s possible to deposit it at a bank or solicitors office, although there will normally be a charge for this. If you re using a will writer, ask if they have such a service or what they would advise. Make certain that your next of kin know of the existence of the will and where it is deposited.
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